Method for manufacturing design tab end using pilot hole of tab coil

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a design tab end using a pilot hole of a tab coil. The method includes punching a pilot hole on a tab coil in the same pitch as that of tab forming pitch of a conversion press prior to design printing, washing and drying the tab coil, inputting the tab coil into a printer according to the pitch of the pilot hole, detecting the pilot hole of the tab coil inputted into the printer, printing the design on the tab coil using a print roll which is controlled by the color controller, pulling and winding the design-printed tab coil according to the pitch of the pilot hole, loading the design tab coil on an uncoiler of a conversion press, tab forming the design tab and attaching the design tab onto a shell supplied into the conversion press.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a designedtab end using a pilot hole of a tab coil, and more particularly, to amethod for manufacturing a designed tab end using a pilot hole of a tabcoil which can precisely print a design on a target position of the tabformed on a beverage can.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a), this application claims the benefit ofearlier filing date and right of priority to International ApplicationNo. PCT/KR02/001805, filed on Sep. 25, 2002 and Korean Application No.2001-59438, filed on Sep. 25, 2001, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A beverage can is generally used with the advantages that the beverageis able to be preserved for a long period of time and it can be usedeasily, and the beverage can is used for containing soda water, fruitbeverage, mixed beverage as well as beer. The beverage can is generallycomprised of a cylindrical body made of metallic material such as steelor non-iron metallic material such as aluminum, and an aluminum endseamed on the upper side of the body. The aluminum end is formed with ascore line so that the opening of the beverage can is torn easily.Further, a tab for opening the beverage can by pushing the score line isjoined on the end.

In order to drink the contents in the beverage can, the score lineformed on the end has to be torn by pulling the tab. Then, the beveragein the can is discharged from the outlet formed by the torn score line,so a man can drink the beverage conveniently.

The present invention is related to the manufacturing method formanufacturing a designed tab end of the beverage can that can functionas an ornament by applying a design on the tab joined on the end, wherethe design includes a logo of the beverage brand, an image, advertisingwords, a suggestive word about the property of the product, a variety ofanimation characters for the promotion of the product, a caricature of afigure, an image of a fruit in case of a fruit beverage, a logo and amascot of a sports game, or a logo and a trademark of a company.

As an example of a method of manufacturing a designed tab end, inbeverage cans, Korean Patent Application No. 2001-8020 filed andpublished by the same assignee on Feb. 17 2001 discloses a method formanufacturing a designed tab end by carrying out a tab base colorpainting process on a tab coil, carrying out a design applying processand a varnishing process and putting the tab into a tab formationprocess and a conversion pressing process, a stacking process, using apitch aligning device.

Also, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2001-43268 filed by the sameassignee on Jul. 18 2001 discloses a design printing phase adjustingapparatus using a print roll tolerance sensor.

In the above designed tab end formation and manufacturing methods, adesign to be printed on the tab coil must be printed in the sameinterval as the tab formed in a conversion press after the printingprocess, so that the printed design can be precisely positioned on asealed-head portion of a target finger hole.

However, in the process of printing a design on the tab coil, fineerrors in the intervals of design prints are gradually increased fromthe initial stage of printing due to the tolerance between prints andthe tolerance of a print cylinder roll. Thus, when printing a design ofmore than a predetermined length, the position of print is deviated froman allowable range, thereby lowering the value of a product. Also, thetab coil must be arranged and put into a conversion press, which mayrequire a long period of time to manufacture a tab.

In a pilot hole for a tab coil and a design printing phase controllerwithout a guide such as a pilot hole in design printing phase alignmentand tab formation using the same, after printing a design on a tab coilwith a length of several kilometers, the position of the printed designis deviated from the target position of the formed tab when forming thetab coil of more than a predetermined length.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a methodfor manufacturing a designed tab end using a pilot hole of a tab coil inwhich a pilot hole is previously punched prior to the printing process,a corresponding design is printed precisely on a target position using apilot hole sensor and a gear set to the pitch of the pilot hole, removea pilot punch from a conversion molding set, form a tab according to apreviously punched interval by applying only the pilot pin, and print adesired design precisely on the target position of the tab head portion.

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a designed tabend using a pilot hole of a tab coil, which can print a design preciselyon the upper surface of a tab for opening a discharge outlet of abeverage can and attach the tab on the can, comprising the steps of:punching a pilot hole on a tab coil in the same pitch as that of aconversion press prior to design printing; flatly reforming a projectedportion formed on the bottom of the punched tab coil; washing and dryingthe tab coil; inputting the tab coil into a printer according to thepitch of the pilot hole; detecting the pilot hole of the tab coilinputted into the printer; controlling a color controller so that adesign can be printed on the detected target position of the tab coil;printing the design on the tab using a print roll controlled by thecolor controller; pulling the design-printed coil according to the pitchof the pilot hole; drying the design-printed coil in order to input itinto the varnish coating process; winding the resulting design tab coil;loading the wound design tab coil on an uncoiler of a conversion pressfor tab formation and then inputting it into the conversion press at apredetermined speed; forming the designed tab coil fed to the conversionpress as a tab forming mold set; and attaching a shell supplied into theconversion press to the design tab formed after the second shellprocessing of the conversion press.

Preferably, in the tab formation step, a tab is formed in the same pitchas the pitch punched in the pilot hole punching press by a pilot pinleft after removing a pilot punch from the tab forming mold set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating an apparatus for manufacturing adesigned tab end using a pilot hole of a tab coil according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view showing a design print phase alignment device using thepilot hole of the tab coil according to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a method for manufacturing a designed tabend using a pilot hole of a tab coil according to the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

*Explanation of reference numerals for main elements of the drawings*10: uncoiler 11: tab coil feeder 12: tab coil connector 13: pilot holepunching press 14: washer 15: drier 16, 16′: infeeding and outfeeding21: pilot hole punch tensioners 22: pilot pin 23: reform punch 30:design printer 31: register punch 32: register controller 33: phasealignment motor 34: gear box 35: printing roller 36: offset roller 37:clean roller 40, 40′: infeeder, outfeeder

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating an apparatus for manufacturing adesigned tab end using a pilot hole of a tab coil according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 2 is a viewshowing a design print phase alignment device using the pilot hole ofthe tab coil according to the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to these drawings, before performing a printing process, a tabcoil is mounted on an uncoiler 10 and is wound in a roll shape in orderto precisely make the pitches of design printing and tab formation thesame. The roll shaped tab coil is inputted into a pilot hole punchingpress 13 through a tab coil feeder 11 at a predetermined speed, thuspunching a pilot hole with a predetermined shape and a predeterminedinterval.

At this time, in order to continuously print the tab coil, beforeinputting the tab coil into the pilot hole punching press 12, two coilsare connected by a tab coil connector 12 and then are continuouslyinputted into a pilot hole punching press 13.

From the viewpoint of one-lane tab formation, the pilot hole punchingpress 13 is provided with a tab coil pilot hole punching mold set, beingconsisted of a pilot punch 21, a plurality of pilot pins 22 positionedin a continuous straight line and a reform punch 23 for flattening aprotruded portion that may be formed on the bottom of a tab coil punchedby the above-mentioned pilot punch 21. At this time, the pilot holepunch 21, each of the pilot pins 22 and the reform punch 23 are plurallyprovided in parallel according to the number of lines of the tab coil tobe printed.

The tab coil punched by the pilot hole punching press 13 is washed by awasher 14 and is dried by a dryer 15, and thereafter is inputted into adesign printer 30 for printing process, thus printing a design on thetab coil.

At this time, in order to apply the printed design in the process offorming a tab by a conversion press, a pilot hole is detected by a pilothole sensor 31 so that a finger hole portion can be positioned preciselyon a flat seamed head portion of the tab.

A print phase alignment device includes a register controller 32 forallowing a design to be printed at a precise position when the positionof the pilot hole is detected, a printing roller 36 for driving a gearin a gear box 34 upon receipt of a control signal of the registercontroller 32, and a phase alignment motor 33 for aligning the targetposition of a design to be printed with the precise position between thepre-punched pilot holes by rotating or reverse rotating an offset roller37.

At the same time, in order to print a target design on a tab coil at apredetermined interval using the above-mentioned pilot hole, a meshedtype infeeder 40 used right before the design printing step and a meshedtype outfeeder 40′ used right after the design printing step areinterlocked with each of printing rollers.

Meanwhile, for obtaining a plurality of design colors of more than onefigure, the surface of the tab coil is dried by a drier 35 after eachprinting process is completed, and then a color printing process isperformed. After the design printing process is completed, a varnishcoating process with a varnish coating machine 50 is performed on thesurface of the tab coil and then a drying process with a drying furnace60 for hardening the printed surface is performed thereon, in order tominimize the generation of a scratch on the design during formation,transfer and distribution.

After the drying process is completed, the tab coil printed with adesign is kept to have a constant tensile force by an outfeedingtensioner 16′, is outputted at the same height all the time by adeflector roll 70 and is wound again by a winder 80. Thereafter, it ismounted on an uncoiler of a conversion press for the purpose of tabformation and then a tab is formed by the conversion press.

At this time, the design printed on the tab coil is positioned at atarget portion of the tab all the time to thus form the tab, so that thepilot hole of the tab coil, which is previously punched by a pilot holepunching press 13 before the printing process without performing thepilot punching process of the conversion press, can be located in thesame position as in tab formation by a pilot pin 22 of the conversionpress.

Also, a plurality of pilot pins are provided, so that the pilot hole ofthe tab coil, which is previously punched by a pilot hole punching press13 before the printing process without performing the pilot punchingprocess of the conversion press, can be located in the same position asin tab formation of the conversion press.

The method for manufacturing a designed tab end using a pilot hole of atab coil according to the preferred embodiment of the present inventionwill now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a method for manufacturing a designed tabend using a pilot hole of a tab coil according to the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

Firstly, in the method for manufacturing a designed tab end using apilot hole of a tab coil, a pilot hole is punched on a tab coil in thesame pitch as that of a conversion press before design printing (a firststep: ST-1).

Then, a projected portion formed on the bottom of the punched tab coilis reformed flatly (a second step: ST-2).

After the reforming, the tab coil is washed and dried (a third step:ST-3).

The dried tab coil is inputted into a printer 30 according to the pitchof the pilot hole (a fourth step: ST-4). The pilot hole of the inputtedtab coil is detected (a fifth step ST-5).

A printing process is performed on the detected target position of thetab coil. In this printing process, a color controller is controlled sothat a design can be printed on the detected target position of the tabcoil and a design printing is performed by a print roll controlled bythe color controller (a sixth step: ST-6).

After the printing, a design-printed coil is pulled according to thepitch of the pilot hole and the coil is dried in order to input thedesign-printed coil into the varnish coating process (a seventh step:ST-7).

Then, the dried tab coil is wound (an eighth step: ST-8).

For formation of the tab coil, the wound designed tab coil is loaded onthe uncoiler of a conversion press and then is inputted into theconversion press at a predetermined speed (a ninth step: ST-9).

The designed tab coil fed into the conversion press is formed as the tabforming mold set. A tab is formed in the same pitch as the punched pitchin the pilot hole punching press by a pilot pin left after removing apilot punch from the tab forming mold set (a tenth step: ST-10).

And, a shell supplied to the conversion press is attach to the designedtab formed after the second shell processing of the conversion press (aneleventh step: ST-11).

Meanwhile, although the preferred embodiment of the present inventionhas been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the artthat the present invention should not be limited to the describedembodiment, but various changes and modifications can be made within thespirit and the scope of the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

In the method for manufacturing a designed tab end using a pilot hole ofa tab coil according to the present invention, it is possible to preventthe deviation of the design position from a target position during tabformation due to the accumulation of tolerances in a printing work bypunching a pilot hole on a tab coil in the same pitch as in the tabformation process of the conversion press in the initial stage processprior to design printing. Particularly, it is possible to preventproduction interruption due to the realignment of the tab coil byprocessing the pilot hole on the previously punched tab coil in the sameway as in the printing process and the tab formation process of theconversion press. Accordingly, the present invention enables a finedesign printing and prevents the reduction of productivity due to workinterruption.

1. A method for manufacturing a designed tab end using a pilot hole of atab coil such that a design is precisely printed on an upper surface ofthe designed tab, the designed tab adapted to open a discharge outlet ofa beverage can, the method comprising the steps of: punching a pilothole on a tab coil in a same pitch as that of a conversion press priorto design printing; flatly reforming a projected portion formed on thepunched tab coil; washing and drying the tab coil; inputting the tabcoil into a printer according to the pitch of the pilot hole; detectingthe pilot hole of the tab coil; controlling a color controller such thata design is printed on a detected target position of the tab coil;printing the design on the tab coil using a print roll controlled by thecolor controller; pulling the tab coil according to the pitch of thepilot hole; drying the tab coil; subjecting the tab coil to a varnishcoating process; winding the varnished tab coil; loading the wound tabcoil on an uncoiler of a conversion press for tab formation andinputting the tab coil into the conversion press; forming the tab coilas a tab forming mold set; and attaching a shell to the tab coil.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising forming a tab in the same pitch asthe punched pilot hole using a pilot pin left after removing a pilotpunch from the tab forming mold set.
 3. A method for manufacturing adesign tab end using a pilot hole of a tab coil such that a design isprecisely printed on the surface of the design tab, the design tabadapted to open a discharge outlet of a beverage can, the methodcomprising the steps of: punching a pilot hole on a tab coil in a samepitch as that of a tab forming pitch of a conversion press prior todesign printing; washing and drying the tab coil; inputting the tab coilinto a printer according to the pitch of the pilot hole; detecting thepilot hole of the tab coil; printing a design on the tab coil using aprint roll controlled by a color controller; pulling and winding the tabcoil according to the pitch of the pilot hole; loading the tab coil onan uncoiler of a beverage packaging lid making conversion press; tabforming the design tab; and attaching the design tab onto a shellsupplied to the conversion press.
 4. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising forming a tab is in the same pitch as the punched pilot holeusing a pilot pin left after removing a pilot punch from a tab formingmold set of the beverage packaging lid making conversion press.